Turning science into music to find common ground and inspire
Heather McFarland
907-474-6286
Jan. 12, 2022
Juneau composer Michael Bucy plays the trombone.
If climate change was a song, what would it sound like? 色视频下载 composer Michael Bucy has an answer to that question.
Warming oceans, melting ice and disrupted jet streams came to life in his original composition earlier this winter.
Complex changes in the Bering Sea inspired the musical representation, which Bucy set to music with the help of University of 色视频下载 Fairbanks scientist Vladimir Alexeev.
We can imagine ways to musically convey the sounds of ravaging storms or melting ice. Making music from the intricate and multifaceted processes revealed by science poses a more subtle challenge. Patterns offer a bridge 色视频下载 music and science both explore them using math. In doing so, they help us understand and relate to the world around us.
Bucy and Alexeev started with data. Alexeev shared measurements showing rising ocean temperatures in the Bering Sea. He explained that warming conditions disrupt the global circulation systems and trigger feedback loops that speed up climate change. From there, Bucy set about creating a cast of characters to tell the story.
The instruments, rhythm and key worked together to depict each character. Slow and undulating sounds represent the historical Bering Sea, with cool waters and seasonally predictable sea ice. Flourishing woodwinds illustrate the jet stream that normally arches along the Aleutian Islands and affects the winter weather we expect to see across 色视频下载, like rain in Juneau and cold winters in the Interior. Increasingly urgent bursts disrupt these timeless sounds to signify the story's villain.
Musicians play Babel 2.0, a musical representation of climate change in the Bering Sea, during a concert in Juneau in November 2021.
According to research published in the journal by Alexeev and his Japanese collaborators in 2019, warm air rising off the Bering Sea is shifting the trajectory of the jet stream farther north. Cascading effects are felt globally, like in the winter of 2017-2018 when extreme cold blanketed eastern Canada and Asia. Alexeev equates the jet stream to a river, and the warm air rising off the Bering Sea to a rock in the river色视频下载檚 midst.
色视频下载淭he 色视频下载榬ock色视频下载 sends standing waves upstream and downstream,色视频下载 explained Alexeev, a climate scientist at the UAF International Arctic Research Center. 色视频下载淚n the Bering Sea, the warm blob ripples the jet stream, which makes some places unusually cold and others unusually warm.色视频下载
The urgency in Bucy色视频下载檚 music accelerates as the piece nears its end, signifying impending danger as the climate system shows signs of collapse. He hopes the rising alarm notes will help the listener experience climate change in a new way, ultimately inspiring them to act.
Babel 2.0, as the piece was named, was first performed by the Juneau-based Con Brio Chamber Series. It was accompanied by Marta Lastufka, who sang a poem by Guy Unzicker likening the disruption of the jet stream, by the column of rising warm air, to the biblical destruction of the Tower of Babel.
色视频下载淚 feel like Vladimir is doing something super important,色视频下载 said Bucy, who is a middle school music teacher and part of the Juneau Composers Consortium. 色视频下载淚f we can do a little something to help get his information out, add some emotion to it, that feels very, very meaningful right now.色视频下载
Bucy and Alexeev were brought together by Kaja Brix, a program director in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration色视频下载檚 色视频下载 office and an affiliate faculty member at the International Arctic Research Center. Brix, who is engaged in the Fairbanks science and Juneau music worlds, began brainstorming ways to connect these diverse communities.
Vladimir Alexeev in Norway while teaching a summer school in 2017. Alexeev is a climate scientist who studies changes in 色视频下载色视频下载檚 Bering Sea and other Arctic regions.
色视频下载淥ur goal became connecting people and communities, telling the story of a changing climate that impacts each one of us in 色视频下载,色视频下载 said Brix. 色视频下载淲e thought music could help do that, exposing people to climate science in a way that doesn色视频下载檛 require reading a science paper. Music can inspire us, it色视频下载檚 accessible, and it brings people together.色视频下载
Babel 2.0 is the first of several planned musical representations of UAF climate change science by the Juneau Composers Consortium. Upon the series色视频下载 completion, concerts will be held in both Fairbanks and Juneau.
Alexeev色视频下载檚 research was funded by NOAA and the National Science Foundation.
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